The Longhorns Ride Again

Transcription

1 VOL. VII, No. I Copyright 1993 College Football Historical Society November, 1993 By Hay Schmidt The Longhorns Ride Again In 1939 the Longhorns of the University of Texas had ridden the coat tails of a meteor sophomore tailback to a 5-4 record, their first winning season since For 1940 Jack Crain was back, and this time he was surrounded by a cadre of outstanding players ready to bring terror to the Southwest. Texas was headed up by legendary Southwest coach Dana X. Bible. Along with the speedy Crain, Bible had an offensive cast that included the likes of Noble Doss, Pete Layden, Roy McKay, Malcolm Kutner and Spec Sanders. The unfortunate thing for Texas when it came to the 1940 SWC season, was that the league featured two other bona-fide juggernauts, in the shapes of SMU and the Aggies of Texas A&M. Texas opened the 1940 season on Sept 28 by hosting an above-average Colorado team, and in an omen for his season, Crain was injured early by a hard tackle and left for the day. The first half was a struggle, with Layden's 29-yard TD pass to Doss staking Texas to only a 12-7 lead at intermission. But the Longhorns got untracked in the second half, behind TD runs of 10 and 24 yards by Sanders, to cruise to an impressive 39-7 win. The following week Texas hit the road to play Indiana, and got a lot more of a struggle than they had bargained for. The first quarter was spent mostly in the Texas end of the field, and the Hoosiers staged one drive to the Longhorn three yard line before held on downs. In the second quarter the disgusted Bible put in a complete new unit, and early in the period the fresh Longhorns marched to a score, with R. L. Harkins hitting paydirt. Crain was back in the lineup in week two, and in the third quarter Hal Hursh of Indiana threw a long pass from his end-zone that the Texas speedster intercepted at the 43. What followed was one of his patented runs where he darted

2 PAGE 2 and weaved all over the field before dragged out of bounds at the Indiana six yard line. After that play, nothing would suffice but for Crain to sweep past right end for the touchdown, that clinched the hard-fought 13-6 win. Next was the annual border war in Dallas against the Sooners of Oklahoma who were led by the spectacular running back, Indian Jack Jacobs. Oklahoma came out firing, as Jacobs ran and passed like a man possessed, and the visitors drove 82 yards to a score. After another Sooner march was stopped at the Texas 7, the 'Horns got back in the game when Harkins took a lateral and dashed 60 yards up the middle to a TD to tie it at the half. But things looked bad early in the second half as Oklahoma tallied on a safety, and then Jacobs threw a 43- yard TD pass to make it Texas came right back on the next possession, as Crain took a lateral from Harkins and rocketed 68 yards to the Sooner two. Harkins then blasted in for the score. Late in the game a bad snap on a punt attempt gave Texas the ball at the Sooner 12. On the second play Crain swept around left end and raced in for the TD to give Texas a victory. The San Antonio Express said that "the two Jacks dueled all afternoon in an offensive show that made the game far and away the tingler of the 40-year rivalry." In week four Texas had a breather, as they easily knocked off Arkansas 21-0 behind the tallies of Crain (injured again), Layden and Kutner. The Longhorns then took their #12 AP rating to Rice, and nothing went right. In the opening minutes T.A. Weems of Rice broke off a 41 yard run to set-up a score for a quick 7-0 lead. With Crain seeing only limited action, Layden led Texas with his passing and running on drives to the Rice 7 and the 12, before both were stopped on downs. Turnovers hounded Texas all day, and the 13-0 defeat knocked them out of the AP's top 25 listing. In the 1940 Southwest Conference things could only get worse, and next up was a visit from SMU, the powerhouse that was carrying a record. With Crain, Layden and Sanders all at full strength, the scoreless first half was described as "the most devastating, punishing defensive game seen in these parts.' SMU came out for the third quarter, and Johnny Clement and Presto Johnson proceeded to run and pass their way to a 70-yard drive and a 7-0 lead. But Texas came right back as Layden connected with Jesse Hawthorne on a spectacular 57-

3 PAGE 3 yard TD pass. Then late in the quarter SMU extended the lead to 14-6 as Johnston tossed a touchdown aerial. In the fourth quarter the offensive show continued, as Harkins threw a pass to Sanders, and the speedy Longhorn dashed 75 yards to the end-cone. But this SMU team had an awesome array of weapons, and the Mustangs roared right back behind the passing of Ray Mallouf, to drive 58 yards to a score that wrapped up their win. The Texas offense had been held to 201 yards of Total Offense (132 of it on two scoring plays) and only two first downs by the #14 rated Mustangs. The schedule provided a respite as Texas knocked off Baylor 13-0 behind Crain and Layden. Layden tallied TD's on runs of 7 and 3 yards, leading the second drive with a run of 27 yards and a pass to Doss for 18 more. The San Antonio Express called Layden's play "deadly passing, terrific running and mighty punting." The Longhorns then visited Texas Christian and got involved in what one writer called "one of the thriller-dillers of a dizzy SWC football history." Late in the first quarter Crain intercepted a pass that got Texas rolling, as he followed it up with a pass to Kutner for 21 yards and Layden then broke off runs of 22 and 15 yards, the latter for a TD and a 7-0 lead. TCU fought right back, as the brilliant Kyle Gillespie returned the kickoff 66 yards and threw a pass for 15 more to setup the tieing score. In the third quarter Texas got on the scoreboard again when Crain lateralled to Kutner, who then raced 50 yards to a TD. But TCU retaliated at once with a 69-yard march, and when a 31- yard scoring strike from Gillespie to Jack Odle tied it up at 14, everyone in the place was exhausted from the excitement. As the fourth quarter opened, Texas staged their drive to the winning tally starting from their 44. Layden again led the march as he found Kutner with an aerial for 12 yards, and then launched a 38-yard touchdown bomb to Johnny Gill. Gillespie won the personal stats battle, but Layden had led the Longhorns to a thriller of a win. On the downside, Crain again suffered an ankle injury that knocked him out of action. Without doubt, the game that these 1940 Texas Longhorns are most remembered for, is their titanic struggle with #2 nationally rated Texas A&M. The Aggies came into the game with a 19-game winning streak, and were being mentioned as a probable Rose Bowl opponent for Stanford. Texas was a major underdog. The San Antonio Express noted that "The Aggies are two deep in senior lettermen, and supplement these with a few fancy sophomores and proven juniors. 'They are experienced, balanced, capable and efficient." One point in the Longhorns' favor, if you believe in such things, was that A&M had never won in Austin since the new stadium had been built in 1924.

4 PAGE 4 Texas took the opening kickoff and began at their 35 yard line. On the first play Layden passed to Crain on a slant pattern, and the speedster dashed 32 yards to the Aggie 33. Layden then dropped back behind good protection, and fired a rocket to Doss, who made a fantastic catch as he took the ball away from the great John Kimbrough at the one yard line. Layden then went in for the TD, Crain added the extra point, and just like that the stunned Aggies were down 7-0. The game then settled into a ferocious struggle with A&M attacking and Texas fighting them off. In the second quarter the Aggies drove to the Texas 10, but were turned away when Doss intercepted a pass in the end-zone. A&M came right back, with Kimbrough dragging tacklers everywhere, and drove to Texas' 8 before Doss again picked off an Aggie aerial in the end-zone. And yet again, just before half Doss picked off his third interception. In the second half Texas turned up the defense a notch, and stole three more A&M passes as the frustrated Aggies never were able to move past midfield. In the fourth quarter A&M began resorting to long passes in desperation, while Texas stayed on the ground to run out the clock. When the gun sounded, the 7-0 Texas victory was being recorded as one of the great upsets in SWC lore. Layden, Doss and Crain had played like wild men as the Longhorns "kicked the Aggies out of the Rose Bowl". A&M coach Homer Norton noted only that Texas "just played more football than us". The Longhorns wrapped up the 1940 season with an easy 26-0 win at Florida, as Layden tallied a pair of touchdowns and passed to Crain for another. Texas finished with an mark, which garnered them a #9 spot in the Dickinson National Ratings, despite being left out of the Associated Press Top Ten. Statistically, Texas posted offensive figures of yards per game rushing and passing, while on defense they allowed the oppostion per-game averages of rushing and passing. The individual star of the team had been Layden as he rushed 156 times for 424 yards, while completing 40 of 76 passes for 581 yards, which gave him a Total Offense figure of 1,005 yards and a Top Twenty national ranking. Layden was the only Longhorn named to the Associated Press All-SWC First Team. The 1940 Longhorn team heralded the return of Texas football to prominence in

5 PAGE 5 the Southwest, and the same cast of players returned in 1941 to become one of the most remembered teams in college football history. Except for an average season of 5-4 in 1944, Texas would go on to post impressive records right through the decade of the '40's and into the early 50's. But the 1940 Texas Longhorns will always live in the annals of SWC football for the day they knocked off the mighty Aggies of A&M.